flat, and there was no broken window. I guess that was you, Gray.”
“It was,” he said.
“So he wondered,” I went on, “why my brother had rung to apologize for breaking it, and to make arrangements to pay for the damage. And he wondered more why my brother told him that women like me tended to be careless. He said he asked him, ‘Nurses? I hope not, mate, because I’ve got a bad ticker. That’s not a thought I want to take with me when the ambos are wheeling me into Emergency, with my heart shutting down and all. Students, now—students, I’ll grant you.’ And my brother said, ‘Not nurses so much. Women like Daisy. She doesn’t have the best track record, does she?’ And my landlord—Clive Forster, his name is—said, ‘What’s your name, then, mate?’ And the caller hung up. After which he went and checked the window, and then he rang me, because, he said, it was an odd thing for a brother to do. After which I explained to him that he was my ex, just trying to cause trouble, and, yes, I’d cracked the window—I had to say something, in case somebody else had noticed it was broken—but I’d had it replaced. And he didn’t say, of course, that next time I should ring him and he’d do it, because as you’ve seen, he’s not a prince among landlords. Though I’m feeling a bit kinder toward him now. I wish he hadn’t said the thing about nurses and Emergency, though.”
Matiu said, “Ring Security before your shift tonight. Have them escort you to and from your car for now, until we get this sorted.”
Gray said, “He must’ve seen something when he was in the flat. Paperwork. I interrupted him, but he must’ve had time to find that.”
“The tenancy agreement was in a basket on my desk, I think,” I said, trying not to shiver. The thought of Gilead in my flat, his hands on my things … He was gone from my life. He was gone.
Not anymore. Who else could it have been? Who else would’ve cared that much?
“What else would he have found?” Gray said. “Pay records? Income tax?”
“No,” I said. “Well, not as easily. I’ll have to check. How much did you look around, Gray?”
“Not much at all,” he said. “No mess in the lounge, though. Somebody like that—I’d think he’d have scattered things around more. Made a mess.”
Matiu nodded and said, “Yeh. It’s all about power with that kind of bloke.”
“How do you know it was him?” I asked. “How could it be him?”
Gray said, “Who else would call your landlord and try to get that information? It’s him, or it’s somebody else from Mount Zion. It wasn’t your father. I saw your father, and besides, this bloke was about my age.”
Fruitful said, “But how would he know? And he looks like … what Daisy said. Medium height, I guess. Not as tall as you, Gray, or as big. His shoulders, I mean. And his face is a bit … I don’t know. Not quite handsome. He has dark eyes and long black eyelashes that curl. His eyes make you think he’s romantic. But otherwise—he’s medium. So it could have been him, or it could have been somebody else, right? Even a … a burglar, maybe.”
Gray said, “I don’t think so. I didn’t notice the lashes, but otherwise? Sounds like our bloke. Also, he was wearing brown trousers and a white shirt, and his hair wasn’t … modern. Cut a bit oddly.”
“Oh,” Fruitful said, and sort of shrank into herself.
Gray asked me, “Who knew your address?”
“Dorian. But I thought of that. I rang him. He said, of course not. Of course he never would.”
“Did you believe him?” Gray asked.
“Of course,” I said. “He’s my twin.”
We all looked at each other. Gray said slowly, “Only one way I can think of, then. If he was—or if Mount Zion was—tracking the girls somehow. But if he was doing that, he wouldn’t be going to your flat. He’d be coming here.”
Gray
Daisy said, “Wait.”
She held up a hand like a traffic cop, her black brows drawn down in concentration, and stared into the distance. Her feet were up on the coffee table. They were small, high-arched, and finely made, and the nails were varnished in a pale blue, delicate as anything. Those feet were sexy as hell, and I lost my focus for a minute.
She glanced at me and said, “What?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Distracted by your interesting toenails.”